Character Role-Play

Sunny

"She's doing volunteer work somewhere," I replied, trying to think of where exactly. She had told me before she left, but that had been last week...

"Nepal!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers. "She's in Nepal, helping an orphanage, I think."

Rose

I could feel my hopes fall with my shoulders. I guess everyone left, too. That's what I was hoping anyway. Then my disappearance wouldn't seem so strange to this tiny town. They'd never understand why I had to leave. I shook my head to clear that thought. "She was born to save the world," I said lightly. "I always knew it."

Sunny

"Yep, that's Cass," I agreed. "Can't seem to stop herself, actually. This is, like, the fifth time she's gone on one of those trips. Making us all look bad." She really did--I liked to tout my contributions to music, but really, I hadn't done anything humanitarian at all, except donating to a few random charities. "I guess we can't all be perfect, though."

Rose

I nearly spit out my coffee. I laughed to cover it up. "That's the understatement of the century!" I tried to be normal about it but I knew I'd slipped up. They knew.

Sunny

"So true," I agreed. "Did you hear about that other guy from our class? He went to jail for killing a bunch of people, or something. That kind of thing only happens in horror movies. Talk about imperfect, huh?"

Rose

"I had no idea," I said quietly. I always knew that kid, Randy, would take a turn for the worst.

Sunny

"Yeah, it was messed up," I remarked, shuddering a little. "I'm so glad I was out of town when that happened... But enough about serial killers. I've been blabbing for...what, ten minutes now? Anything you want to talk about? I don't want to monopolize the conversation."

Deanna

I fumble with the huge stack of plates and sigh, flicking my hair out of my eyes and eying the clock. Break time. Okay, so it's not break time yet, but I need a ciggerette. I dump the plates in the giant sink and sneak out the back, tugging the pack of cancer sticks out of my pocket. Lighting up, I look around the carpark and lean against the wall.

Rose

I laughed. "You weren't monopolizing, Sunny," I said, patting her shoulder. "It's just been so long since I've been here. I feel like I've changed so much." I sipped my coffee to stop me from saying anything more.

Sunny

I nodded in agreement. "Same here," I remarked. "It's so weird coming back here after five years at college. Feels like a time warp, or something. Here, especially. I don't think this cafe has changed one bit."

Rose

I looked around to hide the red in my cheeks. Five years? I was gone way longer than that, wasn't I?
"Yeah," I said at last. "Time flies...when you're..." When you're what? Having fun? If that's the case, time should have crawled along. "When you're flying," I finished, a casual laugh escaping.

Sunny

I laughed along with Rose. "So true," I agreed. "And technically, time does speed up if you're in an airplane, according to general relativity." I paused for a moment, remembering that I wasn't with my nerd friends anymore. "That sounded really geeky, didn't it?"

Rose

I hugged Sunny. "Not at all," I said. "I missed the old nerd talk from back in the day."

Sunny

"Aw, thanks," I replied, hugging Rose back. "I majored in astronomy, so I'm still a huge nerd." I made a mental note to wear my chocolate molecule shirt to work the next day.

Rose

I grinned and laughed. "Astronomy? Wow," I said. I tried to think of a way out of the inevitable question but Sunny beat me to it.
"What are you majoring in?" she asked. "Or are you out of college?"
I sipped my coffee.